Despite steep competition, the state of Alabama has given America some of its stupidest and nastiest Republican politicians.
There’s Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the hideous yet hapless Trumpist who mentored hatemonger Stephen Miller. Roy Banned-From-Some-Malls Moore. Coach-turned-Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who gave an interview where he said so many stupid things
(misidentifying the three branches of government, saying the U.S.
fought in WWII to “free Europe of Socialism”) that it crashed the
website of the Alabama Daily News.
But I submit to you that the
stupidest, nastiest Alabama Republican of them all may be Rep. Mo
Brooks. Yes, Mo (short for Morris and, unlike the leader of the real Stooges, this congressman and follower spells it without an “e”) says things like “racism is over” and “criticism of Jeff Sessions is part of a war on whites.” But then a lot of GOP House members say stupid, racist, appalling things.
What
takes Mo from common stooge to MAGA Moron No. 1 is that he’s running
for outgoing Sen. Richard Shelby’s seat in 2022. And Mo already started
holding fundraisers at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, which, for
those playing along at home, is not in Alabama.
Trump, who
endorsed Roy Moore’s 2017 Senate run (to fill the seat Sessions gave up
to become the reality host president’s attorney general and personal
whipping boy) after all those women came out and said Justice
Ten Commandments tried to have sex with them when they were 14 or 15 and
he was in his thirties, has already declared that “Mo
Brooks has my Complete and Total Endorsement for the U.S. Senate
representing the Great State of Alabama. He will never let you down!”
A couple weeks later, he told Fox that “It looks like he’s got clear sailing, since Mo “just went up 41 points.” I don’t know what points those were supposed to be, since there was no poll showing any such thing. Trump, who usually saves his lies for himself, loves this stooge enough to lie on his behalf. But why?
It’s
not just because Mo is willing to have campaign events that the former
president can profit off. No, despite his limited intelligence Mo has
finally distinguished himself from the herd. More than any other member
of Congress,
more even than Louie Gohmert, Mo Brooks has been the strongest, most unapologetic advocate of Trump’s ongoing attempted insurrection.
On Jan. 6, Mo stood on the Mall wearing a yellow slicker and a camouflage hat that read, “Fire Pelosi,”
and said:
“Today is the day that American patriots start taking down names and
kicking ass.” Soon after, that very same crowd broke into the Capitol
and trashed the place while chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”
According to The Intercept,
“During his remarks, (Mo) asked the crowd to consider the American
ancestors who sacrificed their blood and “sometimes their lives” to
create the “greatest nation in world history.”
“So I have a question for you,” he continued. “Are you willing to do the same?”
That’s not a dog whistle so much as a plain old whistle.
And that’s not even the whole story on Mo’s involvement with the Capitol riots. Fraudster Ali Alexander claimed in a now-deleted Periscope video
that three of the shittiest Republican stooges in Congress—Brooks, Andy
Biggs and Congressman Paul “The Dentist” Gosar helped him plan
the “Stop the Steal” event. In a sane world, this might hurt Mo’s
Senate prospects, but in Trump’s Republican party, active efforts to
undermine democracy are a big plus.
Mo, who voted just after the
insurrection against certifying Biden’s presidential win and in defense
of Trump’s Yuge Lie, did put out a statement declaring that “I ALWAYS
condemn lawlessness and violence of any kind and in the strongest terms.
As a strong supporter of the Rule of Law, and as a former target of
Socialist Democrat gunfire myself, I don’t care what political views
motivate the violence.” OK.
Later, he put out a bizarre and long-winded statement
whining that the insurrectionists he’d rallied had “destroyed two
months of debate and work” trying to dismantle democracy and contest the
results of the contest Trump clearly lost, and declaring that he’d
“never apologize” for the speech he gave just before they rioted:
“As
one of America’s most effective conservative leaders, I defend my honor
and reputation against scurrilous, George Orwellian, 1984, Socialist
Democrats Politics of Personal Destruction.” Mo’s reputation is gold
with Donald Trump, which tells you everything you need to know about
this Southern gentleman’s honor.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is
suing Mo (and others) for their involvement with the violent
insurrection. Swalwell’s lawyer, Philip Andonian, told Punchbowl
he’s having a very tough time pinning down the congressman. "We have
been attempting to serve our complaint on Mo Brooks for more than a
month," Andonian said. "I talked to staffers in his D.C. office who
promised a response from someone, which never came. I sent the complaint
and a waiver of service form in a detailed email to his chief of staff
and counsel, which to date remains unanswered." Mo has so much respect
for the rule of law that he’s currently dodging a subpoena.
I
called Swalwell, who told me that “Mo Brooks got exactly the result he
wanted on Jan. 6 when he encouraged an angry mob to ‘start taking down
names and kicking ass.’ The mob stopped the joint session, terrorized
Congress, and injured hundreds of police officers. But we don’t rule by
mob, we rule by law. And Mo can run from the law, but its just reach
will catch up with him.”
Or, as the former Alabama congressman, Dr. Parker Griffith,
put it: "I've been in that Capitol. It is sacred ground for Americans,
and to see that disrespect, to see things being stolen, windows being
broken, somebody hanging from the balcony, those aren't Americans."
But, sadly, Mo Brooks is exactly where Republicans in America are.
